Stuffed Toys With Wings, a Cardcaptor Sakura story
by SkyLilies
Summary: A one-shot about Kero-chan being bored and hungry. My first ever fic, so please read and review- I'll appreciate it so much! Set before Kero gets his true form back. Rated K plus for safety.


Stuffed Toys With Wings: A Cardcaptor Sakura fanfic

Kerberos liked his drawer. It was cool and dark and just about the perfect place for a small being with extremely inconvenient fur to take a nap in the hot weather that had been roasting Tomoeda through the better part of the summer. It did get a little boring when Sakura was away at school, but having her video games around was great fun- except when (and this happened far too often for Kero's liking) she burst into her room upon her return from school, interrupting him at a point just short of breaking an all-time record on whatever he happened to be playing.

There had also been a couple of close shaves when Toya, on overhearing an enthusiastically swearing Osaka accent on the other side of the door, had popped his head in- it was sheer luck that he'd had to rattle the doorknob a bit before finally opening the door. Kero had just about enough time to turn off the game and sit immobile on Sakura's desk like the stuffed toy he was supposed to be, but he didn't like the suspicious glare that Toya had directed at the 'stuffed toy'- that boy sensed far more than Sakura gave him credit for.

This afternoon, however, was different- no pesky onii-chan in the house, Sakura's father was still at the university, and Sakura herself had cheerleading practice. There wasn't even a Clow Card to be caught, not at the moment anyway. In fact, Kero felt so bored and sleepy, nothing short of a giant chocolate pudding would have woken him up.

…_. giant chocolate pudding? _

He sat upright on the little bed in the drawer. No one in the house meant he didn't have to worry about anyone seeing him outside of Sakura's room. Which meant his path to the fridge- and to checking whether there was anything left of the large chocolate pudding Tomoyo had made Sakura for yesterday's dessert- was clear. Kero drooled a little before flying out of the drawer and to the door. A few sharp tugs later, he was out of it and flying towards the kitchen, and the potential of pudding.

He pushed the kitchen door open, happily anticipating his treat. It was a short distance to the fridge, and Kero joyously pulled it open….._there_ was his pudding, glorious even in the gloom that resulted from the fridge's lights having blown out. One full, large bowl of it. Kero chuckled happily, pulling a spoon from the kitchen counter. He leaned closer, preparing to dig in….

"Tadaima!"

_Oh, no_. It was Sakura's onii-chan, home from school. And worse, he wasn't alone- he had the yuki-usagi, that Yukito, with him. Knowing the kitchen was only a few steps from the front door and there was no way he could get out unseen, Kero took a deep breath and dived into the fridge, pulling the door shut behind him- not a second too soon, as the next thing he heard were footsteps in the kitchen, and the voices accompanying them.

"Looks like the kaiju's going to be late today. What say we go get crepes?"

"Sakura-chan won't like that, Toya- especially if we don't get her any." Kero could practically hear the smile in Yukito's voice, and he wondered if the yuki-usagi was _always_ this happy, or it was just the way he sounded.

"I don't really fancy carrying a spare crepe all the way back, they'll get cold too.." Toya mused. Kero wished he would shut up talking about crepes already, and just go get them- for a start, all this talk of sweet things was making him hungrier (though it was muffled somewhat by being on the other side of the fridge door), and he couldn't possibly eat his pudding while shut in the fridge next to all the containers while Toya was there.

"It's ok, we don't have to go out in this heat." replied Yukito (_no, no_, urged Kero mentally. _Please go so I can have my pudding….and before I freeze!_)

"I know! We don't have to go out, there's pudding right in the fridge!"

_Oh, no_, thought Kero. Pudding deprivation by onii-chan…could anything be worse?

"Ok!"

Kero groaned inwardly. But he didn't have much time to do it in, since the next thing that happened was Toya pulling open the fridge…and Kero realized that there was, in fact, something worse than pudding deprivation by onii-chan….pudding deprivation _and_ potential discovery by onii-chan.

A large hand reached into the depths of the fridge, seeking the pudding bowl. It fumbled around a little, while Kero sat sweatdropping on the shelf just above it, before reaching the upper shelf and drawing the pudding bowl out of it. But just as Toya peered into the fridge, checking on its contents, Kero dived behind a tall dish of green peas, hoping he wouldn't want to take those out too. Toya then shut the fridge, leaving Kero to slump against the peas in relief.

"Oh, chocolate pudding, that's nice. Did Sakura-chan make it?"

Toya chuckled. "I think the kaiju's friend did it…she was staying over yesterday. It certainly turned out better than if the kaiju had tried."

"But Toya, was the bowl heavy? You took a while getting it out of the fridge..you should have asked me if you needed help."

Toya looked at his pudding. There wasn't any way he could tell his best friend that he thought a stuffed animal who wasn't really a stuffed animal had been in the fridge, was there? No more than he could tell Yukito that he was something out of the ordinary, or not even actually human, himself. But it had been there, just the same…though to be sure, he hadn't seen it.

"No, I was just checking on something. We should eat the pudding while it's still cold, though."

"Itadakimasu!"

The next few minutes were torture to poor freezing Kero, who slumped more miserably each second as he heard the sounds of his pudding being polished off. And it didn't help that the yuki-usagi had the appetite of two people, he thought sadly, quite forgetting his own large appetite.

Eventually, he heard the sound of two chairs being pushed back, and the two boys went up the stairs to Toya's room, chattering about video games and football. Kero shoved the fridge door open (by now, he was so cold that doing this was far from an easy task) and flew back up the stairs to Sakura's bedroom rather dispiritedly. He settled into his bed in the drawer, sighing over his lost pudding…

"Tadaima!" rang out Sakura's voice, followed by the sound of her footsteps running up the stairs. Kero's ears perked up- surely she hadn't…?

She bounded into her bedroom, holding a small, somewhat squashed box. "Kero-chan! You're not sleeping, are you?"

Kero flew out of his drawer, tiredly at first, and then with increasing energy as he saw what was in the little box…

"Ice cream cake! Chocolate ice cream cake!"

"Yes, I got it for you- Tomoyo-chan, Chiharu-chan and I stopped by this new shop after cheerleading practice, and their cakes are yummy. I knew you wouldn't forgive me if I didn't get you some and onii-chan would have probably finished off the pudding in the fridge by now, so-"

But her words were cut off by the sight of a very happy Kero diving headfirst into his cake with a huge grin on his little furry face.

"Itadakimasu!"

THE END.

Quick notes on Japanese:

Onii-chan means big brother.

Tadaima more or less means 'I'm back!' or 'I'm home!'

Yuki-usagi means snow-rabbit. It's what Kero-chan calls Yukito because he's so pale.

Kaiju means monster. Toya's nickname for Sakura.

Itadakimasu is something that's said before eating, especially at home. It's like 'let's eat!'


End file.
